Michael Collins Centre

Welcome to the official website for the Michael Collins Centre. A family run interpretive centre and museum, located at Castleview just outside of the seaside town of Clonakilty, in stunning West Cork, on the Wild Atlantic Way.

At the Centre visitors enjoy a comprehensive presentation on the life and times of Michael Collins. There are live illustrated presentations delivered three times daily, audiovisuals and a fine collection of Michael Collins artefacts and memorabilia.

The Centre is situated on the grounds of the Michael Collins Memorial Park, which overlooks the magnificent Argideen Valley. The Park contains a number of life-size memorials dedicated to Collins and the Irish fight for freedom, among them the Béal na Blá memorial: a recreation of the ambush site where Michael Collins died. The Centre is located in close proximity to numerous sites intimately linked with Michael Collins, including his birthplace at Woodfield. The Museum offers private Michael Collins Tours to these sites, as well as a more extensive War Of Independence Tour. This Tour takes in the Collins sites and other sites in Cork associated with the War of Independence.

Marianne O’Brien mother of Michael Collins and Marianne McCarthy, Great Grandmother of Tim Crowley, co-founder of Michael Collins Centre, were second cousins.

Tim Crowley senior, Grandfather of Tim Crowley was on active service with the Volunteers in 1916 and was later interned in Frongoch prison camp, North Wales with Michael Collins.

How to find us

The Michael Collins Centre is located about 5km northeast of Clonakilty town at Castleview in the townland of Ballinoroher

From Clonakilty: Take the Timoleague road (R600) for approximately 2km; then, following the signposts for the Centre, take the second road to the left (L8085-27). Continue on that road for 1.6km until you reach the Centre. Travel time from Clonakilty town to the Centre is 8 minutes.

From Cork City: Take the N71 to West Cork for approximately 50km; just before entering Clonakilty town, take the Timleague road (R600) on your left and follow the directions above. Travel time from Cork City to the Centre is 55 minutes.

At the Michael Collins Centre visitors can enjoy audiovisuals, live illustrated presentations and an impressive exhibition of Michael Collins memorabilia, militaria and photographs. The audiovisuals include two films: one explores the sites in West Cork associated with Michael Collins and the other is a collection of archive footage and audio recordings.

The Michael Collins Centre recently launched a new book entitled In Search of Michael Collins. It was written by Tim Crowley, founder of the Michael Collins Centre. The 122-page book is an illustrated history and guide to the places in Co. Cork associated with Michael Collins; it is filled with local historical information, Collins family history and lore, maps, original artwork and photographs.

Top 10 museums in Ireland

The Michael Collins Centre received a Travellers’ Choice Award from TripAdvisor; this award placed the Centre in the top 1% of destinations nationally, and in the top 10 list of Irish museums and interpretative centers.

In 2016 the Michael Collins Centre is listed in the top 10 must-see museums in Ireland, in the Irish American website Irish Central. Certificate of Excellence 2016 TripAdvisor

No 13 Emmet Square

Michael Collins House

As part of the Michael Collins Tour Tim Crowley brings visitors to three houses in which Michael Collins lived as a child and during his teenage years. Two of the houses are located at his birthplace in Woodfield and the house where he was born is located at the back of that site. When Collins was about ten his mother built a much larger farmhouse closer to the road, that house was burned by British forces in 1921 and all that remains today is the footprint of the building.

When Michael Collins was going to school in Clonakilty aged fourteen he lived in Emmet Square with his sister Margaret and her husband Patrick O’Driscoll. For many years street lore indicated that the house where the O’Driscolls lived was No 7 Emmet Square. But in 2014, entries in the Cancelled Land Books discovered in the National Archives, proved that the O’Driscolls and Michael Collins in fact lived at No 13 Emmet Square, which is now a private residence.